Fable Anniversary review round-up

The very first Fable is a game that I enjoyed far more than I was supposed to. after the game was released containing far fewer features than Peter Molyneux promised (Where’s my Oak tree grown from an acorn, dammit!). Still, when it was released on PC, including the “Lost Chapters” it was a highly enjoyable, easy-to-play light RPG. It’s been nearly ten years, and the game is back to grace your Xbox 360 in an HD “Anniversary” edition. Is it worth revisiting Albion?

Many of today’s gamers were only introduced to the series with Fable 2, which was one of the Xbox 360’s better exclusives, so there’s reason for them to see where it all began. Is it still worth playing ten years on? Here’s what critics have to say.

Fable Anniversary may not blow you away, but it’s still a good action game that everyone should experience at some point or another, and I’d consider it vastly superior to Fable 2 and 3. If you’ve never played a Fable game before this is a great place to start, but at full price, it’s hard to wholly recommend over picking up the original Xbox Lost Chapters edition on the cheap.

Fable Anniversary’s personality has proved truly ageless, even if some of its mechanics haven’t. Inevitably, its doesn’t feel as fresh today as they did in 2004, but the strange and beautiful world of Albion, with all its weird idiosyncrasies and wildly varied accents, is as absorbing and lovably, peculiarly British as it ever was.

Fable still has some charming elements that have stood the test of time and survive in Fable Anniversary. But most of the game shows its age, so if you played Fable or Fable: The Lost Chapters the first time around, there’s little here to bring you back for more.

Fable now stands alongside Halo as an Anniversary re-release, and the latter stands as the pinnacle of its respective series, while Fable’s sequels surpassed it in almost every way. This may make the trip perhaps less impressive than you may have hoped, and it’s tricky to justify the expensive price tag despite the pretty presentation.

While a solid job of remastering the original has been done, the game itself could have used a lot more of an upgrade. It’s aged pretty damn badly, and no amount of visual polish can mask that.

If you really, really love Fable, it might be worth giving the anniversary Edition a look, but for the rest of you, it seems that the game hasn’t aged gracefully and very much feels like a ten-year-old game. Fable anniversary is hitting you Xbox 360 on February 7th.

Editor. I'm old, grumpy and more than just a little cynical. One day, I found myself in possession of a NES, and a copy of Super Mario Bros 3. It was that game that made me realise that games were more than just toys to idly while away time - they were capable of being masterpieces. I'm here now, looking for more of those masterpieces.

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